Dilip Sankarreddy

Dilip Sankarreddy is a business professional, public problem solver, environmentalist and poet. He is a winner of the World Bank India Development Marketplace Award in 2007 for innovating and providing a human-power based lighting solution to nomadic and tribal people in India.[1] In 2014, he ran the notable electoral campaign as an M.L.A. candidate from the Malkajgiri Assembly constituency in the Hyderabad city on behalf of the Lok Satta Party, with a broader goal to strengthen clean politics.

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Dilip Sankarreddy has worked in corporate strategy, corporate finance, global sales and marketing, and product development in telecommunications and education industries in companies across the world. In 2009, he founded EterLive LLC, an Internet start up that provided perpetual maintenance of online digital assets of subscribers.[2]

He is a winner of World Bank India Development Marketplace Award in 2007 for innovating and providing a human-power based lighting solution "Swavalamban Mono Wheel Generator" to nomadic and tribal people in more than 120 rural locations in India from 2007 to 2009. The award grant was $20,000 and most of the installations were in tribal residential schools.[3] In 2013, the initiative was improved by one of the team members, based on the success and past learning, to again win the World Bank India Development Marketplace Award 2013 with an award grant of $100,000.[4][5]

He has taken up various issues concerning urban development since 2004 and has given talks about environment and sustainable development in international conferences and forums.[6][7] His work has been recognised by various universities and governments.[8] He has been awarded sponsorships from the City of Geneva, and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

In 2012, he started HyCity.in, the Internet-based citizen-driven governance observatory for the Hyderabad city.

Since mid-2013, Dilip Sankarreddy started the 'Voter India' initiative with the belief that the healthy voter lists is one of the prerequisites for a vibrant democracy. Daily door-to-door voter verification, new voter enrolment and online submission of new voters' registration forms are the key activities of the initiative. Currently a pilot project is being executed in the Malkajgiri Assembly constituency where thousands of new voters are being enrolled by the daily door-to-door activity from morning to evening by the 'Voter India' team.

In 2012, Dilip quit his professional job in the US to work for the people in India.[10] In 2014, he contested as an M.L.A. candidate from the Malkajgiri Assembly constituency in the Hyderabad city on behalf of the Lok Satta Party, with a broader goal to strengthen clean politics.

Logo of 'Dilip for Malkajgiri' campaign

His sustained electoral campaign from 2012 towards 2014 Assembly elections caught the attention of political and governance experts. He believed that the greatest tragedy of the current Indian politics is the lack of public participation in political donations and he is attempted a formidable electoral campaign that is funded by the people.[11] In March 2013, he was invited to speak about his campaign at the Harvard India Conference 2013 which is organised by the Harvard Business School and the Harvard Kennedy School at Boston, United States.[12] But in the final days before the polling date in April 2014, his progressive agenda was overwhelmed by the heavy polarisation of the electorate on regional basis over the Telangana issue that had already led to the division of the state of Andhra Pradesh the previous year. Still, he could get 5.2% vote share to become the second-most successful candidate of the party in the state elections.

He is a member of the National Council of the Lok Satta Party. He also led People For Lok Satta, the international political organisation based out of the US, as a member of the founding Executive Board and as the Vice-President – Finance in its first elected Executive Board from 2009 to 2012.[13] He was instrumental in building the organisation and driving various fund-raising activities.[14]